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LIFE 




OF 



4apt> ||atl|Hit lak, 



THE martyh spy 



OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Dedicated to the Soldiers of the U . S. Army. 



Published by the 

I I U. S. Military Post Library Association, 
58 Broadway, New York. 





(? 



LIFE 

If 



CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE, 



THE MARTYR-SPY OF THE REVOLUTION. 



•'K7ERY KIND OF SERVICE NECESSARY FOR THE PUBLIC 
aOOD BECOMES HONORABLE BY BEING NECESSARY." 

"I ONLY REGRET THAT 1 HAVE BUT ONE LIFE TO LOSE FOB 
UY COUNTRY." 




NEW YORK 
1874. 



■\\z\src 




NATHAN HALE 



The business of the spy, thougli necessary 
in war, is one held in little honor, and the 
history is a brief one. If successful, nothing 
more is said ; if he fail, and is detected, the 
penalty of death is at once inflicted, and the 
story is ended. 

Doubtless, in our revolution, as in all 
wars, many spies were employed — but 
when, or where, or how has never been re- 
corded. The one spy, who made a mark 
in our annals, was Andre, the Englishman ; 
the man chosen to communicate with Arnold, 
the traitor. Many circumstances combined 
to invest his fate with interest, and to make 
even his enemies regret the necessity which, 
in time of war, leaves for the spy no sentence 
but death. 

After Arnold had gone to New York, and 
taken his place in the British army, a man 
named Champe, with the connivance of 
some of his otHcers, pretended to desert, 



4 NATHAN HALE. 

served in the British lines, and faithfully 
kept his place, waiting long for the oppor- 
tunity to deliver up Arnold to the American 
authorities. But by an accident, or a provi- 
dence, on the very night when Champe 
was to be on guard, when boats from our 
side were ready to meet him, and his 
plan seemed on the eve of accomplishment, 
Arnold changed his quarters, and the whole 
design fell through. With difficulty Champe 
escaped, and returned to our lines. Had he 
been taken, his fate had been sealed, as 
a spy. 

When the penalty of detection is certain 
death, but two motives may induce a man 
to embark in so hazardous an undertaking. 
One is, the hope of large reward ; the other, 
genuine love of his country. One who, for 
any reason, cares little for life, and cares 
much for money, may be induced to run the 
risk, and act as a spy. Or one who values 
his life lightly, compared with the service 
which he may be able to render; who is 
willing to incur the danger of a terrible 
death, if he may but serve the cause of 
truth and freedom; one who has true pa- 
triotism, may consent to perform a service 
combining great risks and little honor. 



THE SPY. O 

There are occasions in the conduct of the 
war when the obtaining of information is all- 
important, and when it can be gained in no 
other way but by visiting the enemy's camp, 
to learn, if possible, his present state and 
future plans. 

Among those whom the history of our 
country should have made memorable, yet 
whose name is little known, and his story 
still less, stands Nathan Hale, the spy. 
He died in the service of his country, — our 
country, — a noble martyr to a noble cause ; 
and yet, if you speak of him, nine out of 
ten will ask, " Who was Nathan Hale ? I 
never heard of him." And when we would 
study his character and history we find the 
materials most meager and unsatisfactory. 

Before any attempt was made to honor 
his memory, much time had j^assed, and 
when the tardy justice of some of his coun- 
trymen -would raise a monument to his 
memory, the records of his life were almost 
lost. He was sent by Washington, as a 
spy, into the British camp, was detected, 
condemned, and executed as a spy, and the 
place of his burial was never known. 

A few more particulars we learn upon 
further inquiry. 



NATHAN HALE. 



HIS EARLY LIFE. 

Nathan Hale was born in Coventry, Conn., 
on the 6th of June, 1755. Of a large family 
of twelve children, nine sons and three 
daughters, he was the sixth. His mother's 
maiden name was Elizabeth Strong ; his 
father was Richard Hale, third in descent 
from John Hale, the first minister of Bev- 
erly, Mass. His father was an honest, 
upright, Christian man, and as farmer, magis- 
trate, and deacon of the church, performed 
his duties, and maintained his position 
faithfully and honorably. His boys were 
trained in true New England habits, hardy, 
self-reliant, honest, and true. They assisted 
in the work of the farm, where every thing 
was done in its season, work promptly fin- 
ished, the Sabbath observed as a day of 
rest; and, as most of the old Puritans of 
that time followed the Jewish custom of 
commencing the day at sunset, we may 
imagine the calm and quiet preparation of 
the Saturday evening, when, the labors of 
the day having been early finished, the rest 
and peace of the holy day began at the 
going down of the sun. 

If this was not the town, it was very near 



THE SPY. 



tlie one, where the first settlers, not having, 
in the midst of their early labors, time to 
frame a code of laws for themselves, voted 
to take the laws of God for their guidance, 
until such time as they could prepare some- 
thing better. 

Few traits or anecdotes of Hale's boy- 
hood are preserved. The house in which 
he lived is still standing — a large, double, 
two-storied, old-fashioned house, with no at- 
tempt at ornament or fair proportions, but 
with plenty of room within and without, 
outhouses, and spreading orchards and shady 
trees. There Hale and his brothers pur- 
sued their work and their sports. He was not 
a strong child, but his vigorous training, sim- 
ple food, and out-door exercise, strengthened 
his constitution, and imparted that energy 
and spirit which so well fitted him for the life 
he was to lead. He was fond of hunting 
and fisliing, running, leaping, wrestling, and 
all athletic sports, the exercises that make 
men of muscle and vigor — live men. 

After receiving such education as the vil- 
lage school afforded, Nathan, with two of his 
brothers, was placed under the care of Dr. 
Joseph Huntington, the minister of the 
parish. Schools of a higher order were not 



8 NATHAN HALE. 



common in those days, and it was the custom 
for the minister to receive and educate such 
boys as wished to prepare for college. 
Happily for these boys, their teacher was a 
man of learning and acquirements, much 
respected for his talents, and a good and 
holy man. 

COLLEGE LIFE. 

In 1770, at the age of fifteen, Nathan 
Hale entered Yale College, at New Haven, 
where he pursued his course of study 
with diligence, faithfulness, and success. 
His tutors spoke well of him, and he 
made many friends, among all of whom he 
was distinguished for his high scholarship, 
his good principles, and his pleasant, cordial 
manners. He was particularly fond of 
mathematics and scientific pursuits, standing 
among the first of his class in these depart- 
ments. 

He did not make himself a mere book- 
worm, but continued his habits of vigorous 
exercise, and for a long time the marks of a 
tremendous leap which he once made upon 
the College Green were preserved ; proving 
that, while cultivating his mind, he did not 
neglect to keep his body in good training. 



THE SPY. 



ENGAGES IN TEACHING. 

Hale graduated in September, 1773, 
among the first thirteen in a class of 
thirty-six, and on leaving college, as was 
the case with many young men in those 
days, entered on the discipline of teach- 
ing before commencing the study of his 
profession. He took a school, the first 
year, at East Haddam, in Connecticut, a 
quiet, secluded place, but possessing wealth 
and business activity. A lady who knew 
him there, thus spoke of him long afterward : 
" Every body loved him ; he was so sprightly, 
intelligent, kind, and withal so handsome.''' 

The next year he was invited to teach a 
larger school in New London. This was a 
select school, requiring in the teacher a good 
education and high attainments, while none 
could obtain the place but one whose char- 
acter bore the " strictest scrutiny." There 
Hale taught acceptably and satisfactorily 
to himself and to the people. He had 
the care of over thirty boys in English and 
classical studies, during the day ; and in 
addition, a school for girls from Jive to seven 
in the morning, which hours he devoted to 
them. 



10 NATHAN HALE, 



All who knew him in New London spoke 
in the same terms of his fair and irreproach- 
able life ; his high moral character ; his fine 
powers and attainments; his remarkable 
success as a teacher, combining mildness 
with decision, commanding at once respect 
and affection. Added to all, his pleasant 
and most engaging manners seem to have 
rendered him a general favorite among all 
with whom he was brought in contact. 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

The excellence of his character was 
crowned by strong Christian principle. His 
education had prepared him for a life of 
usefulness. The teachings of his father 
conformed to the old Bible rule, — there 
can be no better, — " Fear God, and keep 
his commandments, for this is the whole 
duty of man." How early his resolution 
was formed we are not told ; but the object 
of his education from the beginning was to 
prepare him, together with his two broth- 
ers, for the Christian ministry, and it was 
considered a fit training for a minister of the 
gospel to discipline himself and learn the 
art of reaching the heart, and of imparting 
knowledge, by teaching the young, and so 



THE Si'Y. 11 

gaining experience and knowledge of human 
nature. 

Hale possessed great ingenuity and dili* 
gence, and used to say laughingly to the 
young girls of his acquaintance, that he 
"could do every thing but spin." In his 
diary, kept for a short period, he writes, " A 
man never ought to lose a moment's time ; 
if he puts off a thing from one minute to 
the next, his reluctance is but increased;** 
and he seems to have conformed his practice 
to this rule. 

" In bight he was about five feet ten inches, 
and exceedingly well proportioned. His 
figure was fine and commanding. He had 
a broad, full chest, full face, light blue eyes, 
clear complexion, and hair of a medium 
brown. He had a light, elastic frame, and 
could put his hand upon a fence as high as 
his head and clear it at a bound. His face 
was full of intelligence and benevolence, of 
good sense and good feeling." 

We have no diary of his remaining, no 
record of frames and feelings. The journal 
which he kept for a short time is a mere 
notice of events in his daily life ; but thus 
much we may find: a scrupulous regard to 
truth and justice j self-denial and care for* 



12 NATHAN HALE. 

others; a habit of attending to religious 
duties, and upon religious services always 
on the Sabbath, when it was in his power. 
His only inquiry seems to have been, not, 
was a thing pleasant, agreeable, popular, 
polite, but, was it right. And the path of 
duty was the path he chose, without look- 
ing to see what the end should be, well 
knowing that the end must be, whatever the 
result, the approval of his own conscience, 
and of Him who gave and who rules the 
conscience. 

THE SUMMONS TO ARMS. 

April 19, 1775. Hale had been so en- 
gaged for two years, when the alarm at 
Lexington rang through the nation, arousing 
all to action, as one man. The news came 
from Boston to New London by express — 
not the lightning telegraph nor the swift 
railway car, but a man riding fast from one 
town to another spread the alarm, changing 
his horse when he was weary, and giving 
up his errand to another when he himself 
was too much worn out to go any further. 
So the news sped through the land. So 
slow was communication in those days, that 
in a small town in Connecticut, not thirty 



THE SPY. 13 

miles from the Sound, the news of 'the battle 
of Bunker Hill was only received three 
weeks after it had happened. 

The news of Lexington reached New 
London, and the people were at once aroused. 
Public meetings were called, strong expres- 
sions of patriotism poured forth, and those 
who were ready set out at once. They had 
long and weary marches, through a country 
as yet but thinly settled, and with few means 
of transportation. 

At the first meeting which was called the 
voice of Nathan Hale was heard. His soul 
was awake, and he was among the first to 
offer himself. " Let us march immediately," 
was his proposal, " and never lay down our 
arms till we obtain our independence." He 
enlisted as a volunteer, and bade farewell to 
his school. Before leaving he addressed his 
pupils most affectionately, gave them earnest 
counsel, prayed with them, and taking each 
of them by the hand, so bade them farewell. 

CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM. 

He wrote to his father, assuring him that 
a sense of duty prompted him to sacrifice 
every thing for his country, and promised 
him that when the war should be over, (and 



14 KAtHAN HALE. 

with his ardent spirit he seems to have had 
no doubt of its successful resuU,) he would 
return to his studies, and fit himself for the 
sacred profession to which he had been 
devoted. Mr. Hale, his father, Was a truly 
patriotic man. It is said that he would not 
allow the wool raised on his farm to be used 
in his family, but reserved it to be prepared 
and woven into blankets for the army. Also, 
it was a habit of his to sit upon his stoop to 
watch for the soldiers as they passed his 
house, footsore and weary, when he would 
call them in and feed and clothe them, and 
contribute in any way most needed to their 
relief and comfort. Of course such a father 
would not refuse to give up his son at the 
call of his country. 

On the 6th of July, Nathan Hale enlisted 
as lieutenant in the 3d company of the 7th 
Connecticut rejriment, commanded by Colo- 
nel Charles Webb. Before he left he 
addressed a note to the proprietors of the 
school in which he had been engaged, stating 
what he had done, and expressing the hope 
that as only two weeks of his term of ser- 
vice remained to be fulfilled, they would re- 
lease him and suffer him to go at once. 
Having an opportunity for "more extended 



THE SPY. 15 



public service," he says, he feels inclined to 
go. We hear nothing of the dreams of am- 
bition, nothing of striving for glory ; only 
an earnest desire to be where he could be of 
most use to the world. 

The company to which Hale was attached 
was ordered first, under the direction of the 
Council of Safety, to remain for a time for 
the defense of New London, supposed to be 
in danger from British ships of war, then 
off the coast. Regular military duty was 
performed, and some defenses thrown up; 
but on the 14th of September, 1775, incon- 
sequence of urgent and imperative orders 
from the commander-in-chief, all the troops 
proceeded to join General Washington at 
Boston. In January, 1776, Hale received a 
commission as captain in the 19 th regiment, 
and remained in and near Boston until 
April, when his regiment was ordered to 
New York. 

HIS JOURNAL. 

A brief journal kept at this period is pre- 
served, embracing, with some interruptions, 
the period from September, 1775, to tlie 
time of his going to New York. It is prin- 
cipally occupied with records of marches 



16 NATHAN HALE. 

and expeditions, efforts to provide for his 
men, and notes showing the incessant care 
imd watchfulness which were needed, as the 
enemy w^ere so near. At times he could 
hear their men at work with their pickaxes, 
or sometimes in the stillness of the night, the 
voices of their guard might be heard in 
their rounds, giving the countersign. 

We learn incidentally the fact of the con- 
stant observance of daily prayers in the 
camp. In the intervals of leisure the men 
did not neglect amusements and athletic 
sports ; games at checkers and games at 
football are noted, and on one occasion a 
" wrestling match," the challenge formally 
given and accepted; and Hale writes in his 
diary, " Evening prayers omitted for wres- 
tling." 

On the Sundays also he refers to the ser- 
vices, seldom omitted except in case of 
necessity : " Went to meeting in the barn ; 
one exercise. . . . Mr. L. preached, John 
13: 19 — excellentissime ... no meeting 
in the morning . . . afternoon, Mr. Bird 
preached." 

" Sabbath Day,19th. — Mr. Bird preached, 
one service only. Text, Esther 8 : 6. ' For 
how can I endure to see the evil that shall 



THE SPY. 17 

come upon my people, or how can I endure 
to see the destruction of my kindred ? ' The 
discourse very good, the same as preached to 
General Wooster, his officers and soldiers, at 
New Haven, and which was again preached 
at Cambridge a Sabbath or two ago. Now 
preached as a farewell discourse." 

"17th, Sunday. — Went to Mistick to 
meeting." 

Hale was a faithful officer. Indeed, meager 
as are the records of his life, we have con- 
stant proofs of his stern, strict regard to 
duty and right as the rule of his life. He 
took great pains to study and learn his duties 
as an officer, and to train his raw and rest- 
less recruits, writing down from the general 
orders directions for the guards, and also 
how to practice and drill his men. He in- 
duced them to adopt a simple uniform, and 
to pay great regard to their own neatness 
of appearance, which not only contributed 
greatly to their outward improvement, but 
led others to follow their example. He 
devoted himself to his men, taking care of 
their wages, attending to their rations, their 
clothing, their comfort in every particular ; 
and how much an officer may do or may 
neglect, only a soldier can know. As a 
2 



18 NATHAN HALE. 



consequence they were much attached to him, 
and some of his boys assured him that " if 
their mothers would but consent, they would 
prefer being with him to all the pleasures 
which the company of their relatives could 
afford." 

At one time there arose discontent among 
the men, and their term of service having 
expired, many of them resolved to return to 
their homes. They had enlisted for a lim- 
ited period ; some of them were poorly fed, 
clothed, and paid, and it was with great diffi- 
culty that they were persuaded to remain. 
Hale joined with some of the other officers 
in offering every inducement to the men to 
stay ; and the following is the entry in his 
journal, November 28, 1775: — 

" Promised the men, if they would tarry 
for another month, they should have my 
wages for that time." 

This promise he kept, borrowing the 
money from a brother officer on the credit 
of the pay due to him. 

DEVOTION TO HIS COUNTRY'S CAUSE. 

In the new organization of the army, 
Hale was one of the first to offer himself, 
and also made every exertion to procure 
recruits, and to induce men to enlist. 



THE SPY. 19 

Hale went with his regiment to New 
York in April, 1776 ; and of his personal 
movements dnring that season there is no 
record. We liave only the narrative of one 
adventure. A British sloop laden with sup- 
plies was anchored in the East River, di- 
rectly under the guns of the enemy's batte- 
ries. Captain Hale, with a party of picked 
men, at the dead hour of the night, with 
muffled oars, crept over to the other side, 
seized the sloop, silenced the single watch- 
man who was on deck, and quietly assumed 
the command. Favored by the darkness 
they hoisted sail, and quickly moved the 
sloop over to the other side of the river, 
when the supplies it contained were gladly 
received by our own suffering troops, and at 
once appropriated to their use, 

LETTERS, 

Two or three letters written to his family 
at this time are still preserved. In one of 
them, dated August 20, 1776, he says, '^ For 
about six or eight days, the enemy have 
been expected hourly, whenever the wind 
and tide in the least favored. We keep a 
particular lookout for them this morning. 
The place and manner of attack time must 



20 NATHAN HALE. 

determine. The event we leave to Heaven. 
Thanks to God, we have had time for com- 
pleting our works and receiving our reen- 
forcements. The militia from Connecticut 
ordered this way are mostly arrived. Troops 
from the southward are daily coming. We 
hope, under God, to give a good account of 
the enemy, Avhenever they choose to make 
the last appeal." 

Soon after this time was fought the disas- 
trous battle of Long Island, to add new dis- 
couragement to our already disheartened 
army. They were encamped at various 
points, from the Battery for miles up the 
Island, while the British army lay on Long 
Island, at points directly opposite. The 
latter numbered twenty-five thousand men, 
were well supplied with provisions, and 
equipped with all the necessaries for a long 
and successful campaign. 

CRITICAL STATE OF AFFAIRS. 

The Americans were poorly supplied — 
short of provisions, clothing, money, and am- 
munition, in every way destitute, and only 
numbering about fourteen thousand effective 
men. The enemy evidently meditated an 
attack, but at what point it was impossible 



THE SPY. 21 

to guess ; and with so many miles to defend, 
so many exposed points^ the number of our 
men was not equal to guarding efficiently 
every place exposed to attack. Our officers 
were ignorant of the number and disposition 
of the enemy, who was every day growing 
stronger, while our forces were becoming 
weaker and more discouraged. 

Should their troops cross at any inter- 
mediate point, they might divide our already 
weakened army, and hem in a portion in 
the lower part of the Island, cut off from 
means of escape. Or, if our troops re- 
treated to the northward, the whole lower 
portion of the Island would be in their 
power. 

In these circumstances, Washington ear- 
nestly desired that some one should be found 
who could penetrate the enemy's lines, and 
gain such information as would enable him 
to prepare to meet them on terms more 
nearly equaL A mere common soldier, as a 
spy, would not answer his purpose, as he 
needed reports of the plans of the camps, 
the military disposition of the troops, and, if 
possible, some idea of their intentions, while 
the messenger would require peculiar wisdom 
and tact in evading inquiry, and passing 



22 NATHAN HALE. 

unsuspected and unharmed through a hostile 
camp. 

Washington communicated his wishes to 
Colonel Knovvlton, that they might be made 
known, and diligent inquiry be made for 
any one who would be willing to undertake 
so dangerous an errand. But it was not 
easy at once to find any one to volunteer for 
work like that proposed. The business of a 
spy involves more danger than either honor 
or profit. The reward is not proportioned 
to the risk of certain death in case of detec- 
tion. 

Application was made to a French ser- 
geant, who had served in the French war, 
with the hope that he would not be as 
scrupulous, and that his daring spirit of ad- 
venture, which had led him to cross the 
ocean to fight with us, might prompt him to 
undertake the expedition. "No, no," he 
answered promptly, " I am ready to fight the 
British at any place and time, but I do not 
feel willing to go among them to be hung up 
like a dog." 

HALE VOLUNTEERS AS A SPY. 

The case looked desperate, and Colonel 
Knowlton was preparing to report to Gene?:^! 



THE SPY. 23 



Washington that none could be found ready 
for so dangerous an errand, when, in the 
silence of the disappointed assemblage of 
officers, arose a clear voice, saying, "I will 
undertake it." It was the voice of Captain 
Nathan Bale. Who shall tell what a strug- 
gle had passed in his mind ; what waves of 
doubt and uncertainty had rolled over him ; 
what a giving up of cherished hopes and 
sundering of the nearest ties ; what upward, 
earnest prayer for strength, before he could 
come to the resolution thus to risk all ? 

His friends, his military friends, remon- 
strated with him upon the sacrifice he pro- 
posed—the risk he incurred. If he were 
successful, he gained little honor; if he 
failed, there was no result but deaths sudden 
and disgraceful. " He spoke," said Hull, 
" with AN^armthand decision, and this was his 
answer : 

" ' I think I owe to my country the accom- 
plishment of an object so important, and so 
much desired by the commander of her 
armies- — and I know no other mode of 
obtaining the information than by assuming 
a disguise and passing into the enemy's 
camp. I .am fully sensible of the conse- 
quences of discovery and eapture in such a 



24 NATHAN HALE. 

situation. But for a year I have been attached 
to the army, and have not rendered any mate- 
rial service, while receiving a compensation 
for which I make no return. 

" 'Yet I am not influenced by the expecta- 
tion of promotion or pecuniary reward. 1 
luish to be useful, and every kind of service 
necessary for the public good becomes honor- 
able by being necessary. If the exigencies 
of my country demand a pecuhar service, 
its claims to the performance of that service 
are imperious.' " And so he prepared him- 
self for the undertaking. 

Hale was absent about two weeks. He 
went up from Harlem to Norwalk,with his 
faithful attendant Asher Wright, left with 
him his uniform and all his effects except 
his diploma, adopted the plain brown dress 
and broad-brimmed hat of the schoolmaster, 
and departed on his perilous errand. He 
crossed in a vessel to Long Island, and was 
set on shore from a small boat, near Hun- 
tington, making arrangements for the boat 
to meet him at a given time and place, in 
• obedience to certain signals. From that 
time nothing is known of his movements. 
During his absence a part of the British 
army had crossed the river to New York, 



THE SPY. 25 



and occupied the city for two miles above 
the Battery, while another force was stretched 
across the Island, about seven miles higher 
up. The American troops were encamped 
above this point. 

HIS DETECTION AND CAPTURE. 

Hale, in his wanderings, must have pene- 
trated their lines, made himself familiar 
with their camps, their numbers and strength. 
In the completeness of his disguise, he may, 
in his intercourse with them, have learned 
something of their plans and intentions — 
must have crossed to New York and re- 
crossed to Long Island. He had passed 
safely through all these dangers, and was on 
his return already on the shore where he 
had disembarked. Still in his character of 
schoolmaster, he had stopped at a house, 
met several persons, and partaken of some 
refreshment. Standing on the shore, await- 
ing the boat which was to come in obedience 
to his signal, he went forward as a boat ap- 
proached, and when it was too late, perceived 
his mistake. It was a British boat, and the 
muskets of the soldiers were leveled at 
him. He attempted to retreat, bpt it was 
too late ; any movement to escape was certain 



26 NATHAN HALE. 



death — so he resigned himself to his fate. 
Various stories are told as to the manner of 
his betrayal. By some it was asserted that 
it was by a renegade countryman, who had 
formerly known him, and who recognized 
him at the last place at which he stopped. 
Let us hope that no American was vile 
enough for such a service. 

Be that as it may, from a British vessel 
which lay around the point, out of sight, a 
boat had been sent for his capture, and the 
attempt was but too successful. He was put 
on board the vessel, and speedily conveyed 
to New York. He had been previously 
searched. The very fact of his being there, 
within the enemy's lines, an officer of the 
A.merican army, was proof against him. As 
a truthful man he could give no other ac- 
count of himself. In the search nothing 
was found upon him but his college diploma, 
which had perhaps aided him in maintaining 
his disguise ; but, on further examination, 
there were found, under the inner soles of his 
shoes, thin pieces of paper, on which were 
drawn accurate plans of the enemy's camps, 
with notes in Latin which could bear but 
one interpretation. It would be vain to 
attempt to deny the fact. He was a Spy. 



THE SPY. 27 



HIS CONVICTION AND EXECUTION. 

Immediately on arriving in New York, 
Hale was brought before General Howe, 
whose head quarters were in that city. The 
house is said to be still standing, about three 
and a quarter miles from the Fark, and now 
at the corner of Fifty-first Street and First 
Avenue, the property of the Beekman 
family. In the same house, Andre, the 
British spy, spent his last night in New 
York, before going up the river on his ill- 
fated expedition. Hale's arrival was on the 
21st day of September, a day marked as the 
date of a fearful conflagration which swept 
over a large portion of the city. 

Hale appeared before General Howe. 
The charges were made; the proof was 
clear ; there could be no question, no ex- 
planation, no evasion. He did not attempt 
to deny his position, and only regretted that 
his efforts, thus far successful, had been sud- 
denly arrested, and that he had done no 
good. The trial was short, the sentence 
summary — that he should be removed to 
prison, and hanged " to-morrow morning at 
daybreak." The prison in which he spent 
his few remaining hours is said to be the old 
prison, in one of the buildings still standing 



28 NATHAN HALE. 



at the north end of the City Hall Park. 
Here he was committed to the tender mer- 
cies of the Provost Marshal Cunningham, a 
brutal and unfeeling wretch, proverbial for 
his cruelties. 

Here, with but a few hours between him 
and death, Nathan Hale spent that dismal 
night. He was denied the privilege of 
seeing a clergyman — a favor seldom refused 
to the vilest felons ; was not allowed a Bible, 
or even pens and paper for a last communica- 
tion to his absent friends. Finally, at the 
urgent solicitation of a young lieutenant, 
who was interested in his fate and moved by 
the sudden and violent manner in which it 
had overtaken him, the last indulgence was 
granted. 

Alas, that words so precious should have 
been lost to his heart-broken friends and to 
his countrymen ! But when his letters were 
written, they were examined, of course, by 
his brutal jailer, who grew furiously angry 
at the noble sentiments expressed in them, 
and at once destroyed every line. He gave 
his own reasons afterward' — '"The rebels 
should never know they had a man who 
coidd die with so much Jinnness." 

This is all we know of the events of that 
fearful night, the last hours of a young and 



THE SPY. 



29 



brave spirit cut off in the midst of his days, 
when life had so much of brightness and 
hope in its future. Hale was a Christian 
man ; his refuge was in God, and we can 
not doubt he was sustained in that hour of 
bitter trial, with no earthly friend near — not 
even a minister of religion — to receive a mes- 
sage or speak words of peace to his sinking 
soul. 

Hale was executed at daybreak, accord- 
ing to his sentence ; and the only particulars 
that could be learned were such as could be 
gathered long afterward from such strangers 
as chanced to be present, spectators of the 
scene. A file of soldiers was marched out, 
and Hale was conducted to the place of 
execution, and 'hanged on a tree, his execu- 
tion being marked by the same brutality 
which had added bitterness to his last hours, 
destroyed the last records of his life, the let- 
ters which would have given some comfort 
to the friends who could never cease to 
mourn his sad fate. The place of his execu- 
tion and the place of his burial are equally 
unknown, though both were said to have 
been in the neighborhood of his prison. 

His memory passed away, save from the 
heart-broken friends who mourned for him. 
His mother never recovered from the blow. 



30 NATHAN HALE. 



The memory of Nathan Hale was nn- 
honored, and while Andre's name was on 
eveiy tongue, while the English nation gave 
him a place in Westminster Abbey and 
erected a monument to his memory, and 
even our own countrymen spoke Avith sym- 
pathy of his untimely fate, the name of 
Hale, the martyr, is hardly known. 

A few years since, by a great effort, funds 
were raised in his native town, to which 
the State of Connecticut contributed, and a 
granite monument was erected to his mem- 
ory. On it are recorded the last words of 
the patriot — the martyr: — 

" I only regret that I have but one life to 
lose for my country." 

SORROW IN THE AMERICAN ARMY AT 
HIS DEATH. 

The capture and execution of Hale were 
considered of sufficient importance to be 
communicated formally by the British to the 
American General. He was mourned as a 
brother by the other officers who had known, 
esteemed, loved him, and by none more sin- 
cerely regretted than by Washington liim- 
self. At his request Hale had gone on his 
perilous expedition. He had esteemed him 
as a faithful and zealous officer, one of those 



THE SPY. 31 



whom liis country could trust, and from 
whom it had much to hope. 

Only his dying words were permitted to 
reach them, by way of consolation ; but they 
showed the power which sustained the pa- 
triot martyr even in his last hour, and in 
the bitter agony of such a death. 

Andre also spoke dying words, but they 
were of himself: "I pray you to bear me 
witness that I meet my fate like a brave 
man ! " In Hale spoke the patriot — "I 
only regret that I have but one life to lose 
for my country." 

Noble words, showing the spirit which 
actuated the man ; patriotism sustained and 
upheld by religion, He would go where he 
could be most useful to his country ; he 
would do that service which his country 
most needed; not that which would bring 
most fame or glory to himself He would 
risk life, and the loss of all that made life 
dear, for this beloved land. 

Nathan Hale was ready to die, for he was 
a Christian — a Christian soldier. He was 
a man of prayer. He prayed with his 
scholars when he took leave of them, — as 
it proved to meet them no more ; he prayed 
for his men, and his labor and his prayers 
went t02;ether. The habitual desire and 



32 NATHAN HALE. 



fixed determination to do right seldom left 
him in doubt as to the course he should pur- 
sue. It made him a dutiful and affectionate 
son, a faithful teacher, an earnest, conscien- 
tious officer, a devoted patriot, an efficient 
spy — a good soldier of Jesus Christ, to 
whose service as a minister he proposed to 
devote himself, and sustained him at the last 
moment of bitter trial. Then, we believe, he 
was not alone, for his Saviour was with him, 
saying, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
will give thee a crown of life." So ended 
his life, on that bright Sabbath morning, the 
last he should see on earth. 

We mourn over the loss of the last records 
of his life, traced by his own hand, on that 
fearful night when, in the full tide of youth- 
ful health, and strength, and hope, he was to 
be cut down suddenly — when "daybreak" 
was the signal to cut him off from life. But 
from what we know of the man, and even 
from the admissions of his brutal jailer, we 
can not doubt they breathed the same spirit 
which spoke forth in those words, uttered 
in his last moments : 

*' 31 onig xzQxzi tjat 3E Jabe tut one life 10 
lose for mg countrg." 



33 



MEN WANTED. 



Passing down the street a few days since, 
we were attracted by a large placard, on 
which Y/ere printed in mammoth capitals 
the significant words, " Men Wanted /'' and 
as we continued our way and saw the 
crowds that hurried past us, the capitals 
frequently flashed in our eyes, "Men 
Wanted !" 

Yes ! we thought to ourselves, Men are 
wanted ! Not things of straw in the shape 
of men, that have no substance or reality 
about them ; mere bundles of nothings, 
tied up with a tailor's band, in the extreme 
of the fashionable cut, to keep them from 
being blown away ; brainless, and careless 
of hfe and its duties — who think of none 
but themselves and their vanity, and who 
act as if life were a jest, a bubble, and a 
dream. 



34 MEN WANTED. 

3Ien wanted ! Not a fop who will sit be- 
fore a photographer's lens to be reduced to 
his true size in the world, and to have hia 
true value rated on the back of his shadow 
in the price of the revenue-stamp gummed 
on the card. Such characters are not 
sought after in the present case. 

Men wanted! Not the sordid wretch 
who will grasp the last farthing from the 
hands of the suffering widow or the help- 
less orphan, to swell his gains. Not the 
hoarder of wealth gotten by the oppression 
of the poor, and the extortion and raud 
practiced upon the rich. Not the calculat- 
ing grasp-all who will do only what he 
thinks will be for his own advantage, and 
forgets that his interests are united with 
those around him. Such are not wanted. 

MeM wanted ! Not cowards, who sbiver 
and sHnk away in the face of duty, and are 
ready to betray themselves and their cause 
at the least difficulty ; whose hearts sink 
within them at the demands of real and 



MEN WANTED. 35 

earnest effl^rt, and who fall to the rear in 
the hour of struggle! Such are not 
"Wanted. 

Men wanted ! Not bounty-jumpers, who 
enHst that they may pocket the bounty and 
then fly from the service they have engag- 
ed to perform, Hke those who receive large 
blessings from the hand of Providence, and 
think they can escape rendering their 
service and their account— mere bounty- 
jumpers of God's goodness, who will find 
that there is a reserve corps from which 
they can not escape. 

None of these. But Men are wanted in 
the great struggle of the Republic for Free- 
dom, Righteousness and Temperance. The 
brave soul and the loyal heart, that can 
feel and understand the value of the bless- 
ings at stake, for to-day and for all time, 
not only for our own country, but for the 
world. 

Men wanted — with earnest soul and iron 
will to go out into the great work of the 



86 MEN WANTED. 

age, and do battle for the truth against op- 
pression and wrong in all their forms. 
Men whose thoughts are blazing truths, 
and whose words are trumpet-peals to 
action and to duty — who can not rest ex- 
cept when they bear the armor, and can 
not sleep except on the well-won battle- 
field! 

Men wanted — to carry the banner of 
peace and progress, of freedom and right- 
eousness, high aloft over the corruptions 
and follies of the world ; who, trampling 
its bribes and its allurements under their 
feet, will stop only when it is planted high 
on the glory-crowned battlements of the 
future. Men of faith and hope — men of 
truth and love — men of mind and will — 
men of power and nerve — men of clear 
sight and clean hearts — men who stoop 
low down to the humblest children of earth 
that they may raise them to be the chil- 
dren of heaven — such men are wanted in 
the ranks to-day I 



'J, 



KliW CPl^y^^Tf ]®5^ s 



ILIT ARY |oST flBHAEY IsSOCIATION. 



THE WAR WHICH KNOWS NO EXEMPTS, AND 

NO QUARTER. By William R. Williams. 
GEORQE WASHINGTON ; The Soldier. 
AN EVENING WITH THE CHAPLAIN. 
THE ROLL CALL ; Or How Will You Answer It? 
THE CAPTAIN AND HIS ORDERLY. 
WILL YOU ENLIST? Or, Soldier out of Uniform. 
MEMORIALS OF LIEUT. G. W. PYLE, U. S. A. 
THE SOLDIER'S POCKET BIBLE. 
THE PASSWORD. 
ON PICKET. 

NARRATIVE OF AN ENGLISH SOLDIER. 
MILITARY SONGS. 
SACRED SONGS. 

THE BRAVE AND HAPPY SOLDIER. 
SOLDIER'S MANUAL OF HEALTH. 
THE MUSTER-ROLL. 
NAPOLEON'S ARGUMENT, 
MORAL GEMS. 
SOLDIER'S KNAPSACK. 



GIVES 

24 pages. 
60 pages. 
46 pages. 
16 paged. 
58 pages. 
16 pages. 
16 pages. 
28 pages. 
44 pages. 
12 pages. 
16 pages. 
72 pages. 
72 pages. 
16 pages. 
16 pjiges. 
20 pages. 
20 pages. 
20 pages. 
44 pages. 



All commuiiicatioris addressed to 

JOHN R. KETCHUM, Cor. Sec'y, &c., 

New York. 



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